{"id":36442,"date":"2025-04-29T19:05:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36442"},"modified":"2025-04-29T19:07:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T17:07:33","slug":"pope-francis-tried-to-change-the-catholic-church-for-women-with-mixed-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36442","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed\u00a0success"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . . <\/p>\n

An article from The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n

Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church,\u00a0died on Easter Monday\u00a0at the age of 88. On Easter Sunday, he used his\u00a0message and blessing\u00a0to appeal for peace in Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis will be remembered as a\u00a0pastoral leader\u00a0who cared deeply about the environment and those impacted by migration, poverty and war.<\/p>\n

During his Pontificate, he did make important changes to the patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church \u2013 but did he go far enough? <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nPope Francis meets a group of nuns at the Vatican.\u00a0Andrew Medichini\/AP<\/center><\/p>\n

A pope for all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis\u00a0highlighted the struggles of women\u00a0<\/a> in society. He took important steps to expand opportunities for women in the church and address its patriarchal structure.<\/p>\n

This was showcased by his inclusion of women in the\u00a02024 synod\u00a0<\/a> (a global meeting of the whole church, represented by bishops) and his\u00a0granting of voting\u00a0<\/a> rights for 57 women out of a total of 368 attendees.<\/p>\n

His\u00a0appointment of around 20 women\u00a0<\/a> to positions of authority in the Vatican is unprecedented.<\/p>\n

This includes the recent\u00a02025 appointment\u00a0<\/a> of an Italian religious sister, Simona Brambilla, to lead a Vatican department.<\/p>\n

During his papacy, Pope Francis also strongly supported the ongoing involvement of women in positions of leadership in the\u00a0Roman Curia\u00a0(the governance body of the church).<\/p>\n

At local levels, in parishes, he made it possible for women to be formally appointed to the positions of\u00a0catechist and lector\u00a0<\/a> \u2013 roles previously reserved for men.<\/p>\n

He also emphasised a need for\u00a0more women to study and teach theology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An \u2018urgent challenge\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, these changes\u00a0barely scratched the surface\u00a0<\/a> of securing full equality for women in the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis himself\u00a0stated\u00a0<\/a> women still encountered obstacles, and opportunities for women to participate were under-utilised by local churches.<\/p>\n

In his\u00a0autobiography<\/a>, published in January this year, he wrote of the \u201curgent challenge\u201d to include women in central roles at every level of church life.<\/p>\n

He viewed this move as essential to \u201cde-masculinising\u201d the church and removing the problem of clericalism.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the reasoning that underpins women\u2019s limited role in the life of the church remains unchanged.<\/p>\n

In particular, Pope Francis referred to gender stereotypes and supported the theology of complementarianism (a view that women are different but equally valued, where their central contribution is to\u00a0motherhood, femininity and pastoral care responsibilities<\/a>).<\/p>\n

(Article continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Questions related to this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

Prospects for progress in women’s equality, what are the short and long term prospects?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Article continued from left column)<\/p>\n

While Pope Francis was genuinely committed to dialogue about and with women,\u00a0his legacy remains contradictory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Equality is still lacking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women have been appointed to administrative and management positions, but decision making and ministry still largely rest with clerical men.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis\u2019 emphasis on the \u201cfeminine nature\u201d women bring to roles, rather than their gifts and talents, limited women.<\/p>\n

And although he called out discrimination against women in broader society, he expressed\u00a0opposition to contemporary feminism<\/a>, which he titled \u201cgender ideology\u201d and \u201cmachismo with a skirt<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moreover, despite ongoing discussions, Pope Francis appeared to be unresponsive to calls for a greater role for women in ministry.<\/p>\n

Women cannot preach during Mass or be ordained to the priesthood or deaconate, despite multiple attempts by Catholic reform groups to\u00a0advocate for women\u2019s inclusion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2023\u00a0\u00a0International Survey of Catholic Women<\/a>, which surveyed more than 17,000 Catholic women from 104 countries and eight language groups, found women across the world were keen for church reform that recognises women\u2019s leadership capacities and ongoing contribution to church communities.<\/p>\n

More than eight in ten (84%) of the women surveyed supported reform in the church. Two-thirds (68%) agreed women should be ordained to the priesthood, and three-quarters (78%) were supportive of women preaching during Mass.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0survey reported\u00a0<\/a> on the deep frustration and despair women experienced for not having their gifts and talents recognised.<\/p>\n

Women also stated they are dissatisfied with the burden of labour they carry in the church.<\/p>\n

In this regard, Pope Francis did not address the financial burdens and exploitation of Catholic women who work for the church without adequate recognition or pay. This leaves women, particularly those working in parishes, open to exploitation.<\/p>\n

More worryingly,\u00a0decades after cases of abuse\u00a0<\/a> were reported to the Vatican, Pope Francis\u00a0publicly acknowledged\u00a0<\/a> that women,\u00a0particularly nuns, were significantly affected by spiritual and sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

While this recognition is important, church responses to abuse remain inadequate and more needs to be done to\u00a0safeguard women in pastoral settings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With regard to sexual and reproductive decision-making, the International Survey of Catholic Women found the majority of respondents wanted more freedom of conscience around such issues. This is because when they are denied by church law, women\u2019s agency was diminished and their vulnerability to situations of gendered violence increased.<\/p>\n

The papacy of Pope Francis has made no reforms in this area, leaving many Catholic women frustrated and disappointed.<\/p>\n

Hope for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 60 years ago, Vatican II generated\u00a0hope for change\u00a0among Catholic women.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis reignited that hope, and listened. But responses have been too slow and Catholic women are still waiting for genuine reform.<\/p>\n

– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . . An article from The Conversation Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church,\u00a0died on Easter Monday\u00a0at the age of 88. On Easter Sunday, he used his\u00a0message and blessing\u00a0to appeal for peace in Middle East and Ukraine. Pope Francis will be remembered as a\u00a0pastoral leader\u00a0who cared deeply about the environment … Continue reading Pope Francis tried to change the Catholic Church for women, with mixed\u00a0success<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,12],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-36442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global","category-women","tag-global"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}